Web Systems Design and Online Consumer Behavior [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

Implication and Conclusion

The chapter focuses on understanding the implications of
the Internet on consumer information search at theoretical and managerial levels. Theoretically,
most of the overall literature on information search examines the context of the physical
marketplace. The focus is on information search at the level of product categories or brands in
order to determine how consumers process information as well as the determinants of the amount of
information search. This emphasis on products or brands and search costs is imposed by the physical
market, a context where the geographical characteristics confine consumers to a certain area. For
instance, choices of stores are limited by distance. In the electronic market, physical distance is
irrelevant. Theoretically, consumers can visit a large number of online stores. Therefore, it is
necessary to expand the scope of information search to include store and product levels.

Managerially, understanding consumer search in an online environment can have a direct impact
on a firm’s capability to meet customer needs. An understanding of online consumer search behavior
will add to the firm’s knowledge of the effects of the Web-based environment in a number of areas.
For example, in this environment where consumers have the control over and access to vast amounts
of information, a significant challenge is determining how to prolong the consumers’ visits and
turn them from browsers to buyers; in other words, how to get consumers to make their purchase
decision online after they have gathered information. Since any online activity (e.g., abandoning
the shopping cart or visiting other competing retailers) is only one click away, it is vital for
online retailers to ensure that consumers complete their transaction.

Reducing search costs, while at the same time reducing the number of clicks, has an important
implication for marketing objectives of online retailers. For example, Hoque and Lohse (1999)
examined the effects of changes in interface design on search cost. Their results suggest that
consumers are more likely to choose advertisements near the beginning of the list from online
directories than from traditional paper directories. A business located further down from the top
of the list is less likely to be considered. Similarly, Lynch and Ariely (2000) found that making
price information more accessible on the Internet does not necessarily increase consumers’ price
sensitivity. Thus, increasing transparency of the information environment seems to reduce buyers’
search cost, and increase consumer shopping enjoyment and customer retention. Speeding the checkout
process, as in Amazon.com’s “one-click shopping,” could also significantly facilitate consumers’
buying process.

Moreover, many online retailers employ features such as banner ads and pop-up windows to
generate additional revenues and promote sales. These features also increase interruption of the
search process, distracting and disorienting consumers in this highly visual and perceptual
environment. By understanding the effects of interruption, online retailers could prevent consumers
from getting lost in this information space and guide them to the information destinations of
interest.

In conclusion, the online market offers consumers vast opportunities because it reduces
physical efforts of information search and provides access to a large amount of information and
choices. What may have been substituted, however, is the cognitive effort required by the consumers
to interact with computers. This effort may prevent consumers from taking advantage of the
opportunities to search for more information. In this information age, organization of consumer
activities have become more complex with the availability of fast, efficient and powerful means of
communication that can have a significant impact on the way consumers organize the environment they
live in and interact with. With these opportunities, however, accompany with additional burdens of
search techniques that undoubtedly affect consumers’ search behavior. The uncertainty with regard
to the location of information, along with the complex system factors, adds to the possible change
of consumer behavior that deserves further investigation.